Optical trapping of the anisotropic crystal nanorod

Analysis of radiation force on a uniaxial anisotropic sphere by dual counter-propagating Gaussian beams

Based on Maxwell's stress tensor and the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory, a theoretical approach is introduced to study the radiation force exerted on a uniaxial anisotropic sphere illuminated by dual counter-propagating (CP) Gaussian beams. The beams propagate with arbitrary direction and are expanded in terms of the spherical vector wave functions (SVWFs) in a particle coordinate system using the coordinate rotation theorem of the SVWFs. The total expansion coefficients of the incident fields are derived by superposition of the vector fields. Using Maxwell stress tensor analysis, the analytical expressions of the radiation force on a homogeneous absorbing uniaxial anisotropic sphere are obtained. The accuracy of the theory is verified by comparing the radiation forces of the anisotropic sphere reduced to the special cases of an isotropic sphere. In order to study the equilibrium state, the effects of beam parameters, particle size parameters, and anisotropy parameters on the radiation force are discussed in detail. Compared with the isotropic particle, the equilibrium status is sensitive to the anisotropic parameters. Moreover, the properties of optical force on a uniaxial anisotropic sphere in a single Gaussian beam trap and Gaussian standing wave trap are compared. It indicates that the CP Gaussian beam trap may more easily capture or confine the anisotropic particle. However, the radiation force exerted on an anisotropic sphere exhibits very different properties when the beams do not propagate along the primary optical axis. The influence of the anisotropic parameter on the radiation force by CP Gaussian beams is different from that of a single Gaussian beam. In summary, even for anisotropic particles, the Gaussian standing wave trap also exhibits significant advantages when compared with the single Gaussian beam trap. The theoretical predictions of radiation forces exerted on a uniaxial anisotropic sphere by dual Gaussian beams provide effective ways to achieve the improvement of optical tweezers as well as the capture, suspension, and high-precision delivery of anisotropic particles.

In-plane trapping and manipulation of ZnO nanowires by a hybrid plasmonic field

In general, when a semiconductor nanowire is trapped by conventional laser beam tweezers, it tends to be aligned with the trapping beam axis rather than confined in the horizontal plane, and this limits the application of these nanowires in many in-plane nanoscale optoelectronic devices. In this work, we achieve the in-plane trapping and manipulation of a single ZnO nanowire by a hybrid plasmonic tweezer system on a flat metal surface. The gap between the nanowire and the metallic substrate leads to an enhanced gradient force caused by deep subwavelength optical energy confinement. As a result, the nanowire can be securely trapped in-plane at the center of the excited surface plasmon polariton field, and can also be dynamically moved and rotated by varying the position and polarization direction of the incident laser beam, which cannot be performed using conventional optical tweezers. The theoretical results show that the focused plasmonic field induces a strong in-plane trapping force and a high rotational torque on the nanowire, while the focused optical field produces a vertical trapping force to produce the upright alignment of the nanowire; this is in good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, some typical ZnO nanowire structures are built based on this technique, which thus further confirms the potential of this method for precise manipulation of components during the production of nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices.

Spin-controlled orbital motion in tightly focused high-order Laguerre-Gaussian beams

Spin angular momentum can contribute to both optical force and torque exerted on spheres. Orbit rate of spheres located in tightly focused LG beams with the same azimuthal mode index l is spin-controlled due to spin-orbit coupling. Laguerre-Gaussian beams with high-order azimuthal mode are used here to study the orbit rate of dielectric spheres. Orbit rates of spheres with varying sizes and refravtive indices are investigated as well as optical forces acting on spheres in LG beams with different azimuthal modes. These results would be much helpful to investigation on optical rotation and transfer of spin and orbital angular momentum.